


Sons of Old Friends

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e02 In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-05-01
Updated: 2003-05-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 06:17:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15113543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "Well," Leo thought, "Noah had been right about one thing: Hospitals left way too much time for thinking."





	Sons of Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Sons of Old Friends**  
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Josh, Leo fatherly relationship  
**Category(s):** POST-EP: ITSo2G2  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, this is a product of WAAAAAAY too much family togetherness vacation time, please don't sue me.  
**Summary:** "Well," Leo thought, "Noah had been right about one thing: Hospitals left way too much time for thinking." 

Long after everyone else had gone, he sat by Josh's bedside, watching the young man shudder in his sleep. CJ'd left for her briefing, Sam and Toby had gone on orders to finish a speech, Donna had left to answer the phone messages and mail that had been flooding Josh's office in a probably-unsuccessful attempt to distract herself. 

It was almost freakishly quiet - after the hustle-and-bustle of the day-crowd, the near-silence of the night was palpable and a little unnerving. After all, during the day one could almost ignore the incessant beep of the machines that surrounded Josh's bedside, but at night...it seemed to be the only thing to hear. 

So Leo sat stiffly in the uncomfortable plastic chair, staring mostly into the darkness as he contemplated all sorts of things. 

How had Josh gotten hit, he wondered? He'd been behind the wall when they'd found him, he couldn't've been hit behind there...where had Josh been when the bullets flew? No one had thought to look behind them for the Deputy Chief of Staff, they'd all been too busy panicking and trying to save their own asses... 

As much as he hated to say that they'd forgotten about Josh, all evidence pointed to the contrary. 

No one was willing to ask Josh how he'd been shot, where he'd been situated that the bullets had pierced him, how he afterward managed to drag his wounded body behind the cement wall at the top of the stairs...but the question burned at Leo. 

How had this man he'd promised Noah he would protect, how had he been wounded? 

He could remember the phone conversation what seemed like an eternity ago, where he told Noah about the Bartlet campaign getting off the ground and Noah relayed that Josh was pissed off at the Hoynes way of doing business... 

And the rest of that was history. 

...But the other part of the conversation, the part no one else knew about...that was clear as a bell. 

"Leo, you've gotta promise me something." 

"Whatcha need?" he'd asked, figuring it had to do with trying to lure Josh to the Bartlet camp. 

"If I'm not fine...I mean I've done a lot of thinking when I've been in an out of the hospital...it leaves way too much time for thinking...If I'm not fine, could you sorta...look out for them?" 

"You're gonna be fine." 

"I know that - I just mean if by a fluke I'm not." 

Well, Leo thought, Noah had been right about one thing: Hospitals left way too much time for thinking. 

An unintelligible whisper made him shift his gaze downward. Josh stared blearily up at him. "...Dad?" he murmured. Leo stiffened a little, but Josh persisted. "Dad? S'at you?" 

Leo opened his mouth to say no, but found himself saying something else. "Yeah, Sport, I'm here," he said quietly, wondering what the hell he was doing. 

"But they...said I'd be okay..." Josh looked mildly confused, but almost beyond caring. 

"Yeah," Leo said, his voice a little gruff. "You're gonna be fine, Josh, just fine." He ran a hand over his deputy's shoulder. 

"...Kay..." 

"You should go back to sleep." 

"Yeah..." He stifled a yawn. "...Tell Joanie I say 'ello..." Josh smiled faintly as he drifted off to sleep. 

Leo wondered why he'd gone ahead and said he was-...and then he came to a conclusion, a reason that made it completely justified. 

That's what fathers did for sons of old friends. 


End file.
